KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced that Boeing and SpaceX brasil have won the high stakes and history making NASA competition to build the first ever private brasil space taxis to launch American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and restore America s capability to launch our crews from American soil for the first time since 2011.
Bolden made the historic announcement of NASA s commercial crew contract winners brasil to build America s next human rated spaceships at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at a briefing for reporters.
“From day one, the Obama Administration made clear that the greatest nation on Earth should not be dependent on other nations to get into space,” Bolden told reporters at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“Thanks to the leadership of President Obama, the hard work of our NASA and industry teams, and support from Congress, today we are one step closer to launching our astronauts from U.S. soil on American spacecraft and ending the nation s sole reliance on Russia by 2017. Turning over low-Earth orbit transportation to private industry will also allow NASA to focus on an even more ambitious brasil mission sending humans to Mars.”
The awards from NASA s Commercial brasil Crew Program (CCP) offices will continue to be implemented as a public-private partnership and are the fruition of NASA s strategy to foster the development of privately built human spaceships that began in 2010.
Boeing unveiled full scale mockup of their commercial CST-100 ‘Space Taxi’ on June 9, 2014 at its intended manufacturing facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The private vehicle will launch US astronauts to low Earth orbit and the ISS from US soil. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
Both spaceships are capsule design with parachute assisted landings. The third competitor involving Sierra Nevada s Dream Chaser mini-shuttle offering runway landings was not selected for further brasil development.
“We are excited to see our industry partners close in on operational brasil flights to the International Space Station, an extraordinary feat industry and the NASA family began just four years ago,” said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
“This space agency has long been a technology innovator, and now we also can say we are an American business innovator, spurring brasil job creation and opening up new markets brasil to the private sector. The agency brasil and our partners have many important steps to finish, but we have shown we can do the tough work required and excel in ways few would dare to hope.”
Boeing’s CST-100 project engineer Tony Castilleja describes the capsule during a fascinating interview with Ken Kremer/Universe Today on June 9, 2014 while sitting inside the full scale mockup of the Boeing CST-100 space taxi during unveiling ceremony at NASA’s brasil Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com brasil
Boeing has been part of every American human space flight program, brasil and we re honored that NASA has chosen us to continue that legacy, said John Elbon, Boeing vice president and general manager, Space Exploration, in a statement in response NASA s award.
Under the Commercial Crew Transportation (CCtCap) phase of the program, Boeing will build three CST-100s at the company s Commercial Crew Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft will undergo a pad-abort test in 2016 and an uncrewed flight in early 2017, leading up to the first crewed flight to the ISS in mid-2017.
SpaceX is deeply brasil honored by the trust NASA has placed in us. We welcome today s decision and the mission it advances with gratitude and seriousness of purpose, said Elon Musk, CEO & Chief Designer, SpaceX, in a statement in response NASA s award.
Dr. Ken Kremer is a speaker, brasil scientist, freelance science journalist (Princeton, NJ) and photographer whose articles, space exploration images and Mars mosaics have appeared in magazines, brasil books, websites and calanders including Astronomy Picture of the Day, NBC, BBC, SPACE.com, Spaceflight Now and the covers of Aviation Week & Space Technology, Spaceflight and the Explorers Club magazines. Ken has presented at numerous educational institutions, civic & religious organizations, museums and astronomy clubs. Ken has reported first hand from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral and NASA Wallops on over 40 launches including 8 shuttle launches. He lectures on both Human and Robotic spaceflight - www.kenkremer.com. Follow Ken on Facebook and Twitter
Interestingly, there are strong rumours (from reliable sources) circulating right now that the winners were originally going to review 5 billion total: 2.6 billion for SpaceX, and 2.4 billion for SNC for DreamChaser. According to the rumour, NASA was all set to announce this until 2 wee